Judith Miller: Tipped Off to 9/11?

[tocqueville]

MILLER: The person told me that there was some concern about an intercept that had been picked up. The incident that had gotten everyone’s attention was a conversation between two members of Al Qaida. And they had been talking to one another, supposedly expressing disappointment that the United States had not chosen to retaliate more seriously against what had happened to the Cole. And one Al Qaida operative was overheard saying to the other, ‘Don’t worry; we’re planning something so big now that the U.S. will have to respond.’

And I was obviously floored by that information. I thought it was a very good story: (1) the source was impeccable; (2) the information was specific, tying Al Qaida operatives to, at least, knowledge of the attack on the Cole; and (3) they were warning that something big was coming, to which the United States would have to respond. This struck me as a major page one-potential story.

I remember going back to work in New York the next day and meeting with my editor Stephen Engelberg. I was rather excited, as I usually get about information of this kind, and I said, ‘Steve, I think we have a great story. And the story is that two members of Al Qaida overheard on an intercept (and I assumed that it was the National Security Agency, because that’s who does these things) were heard complaining about the lack of American response to the Cole, but also . . . contemplating what would happen the next time, when there was, as they said, the impending major attack that was being planned.

http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/?p=154

[Mandate My Ass]

1. "expressing disappointment that the US had chosen not to retaliate...?

That just sounds like a cockamamie RW talking point. Why would stealth attackers complain when they had accomplished their mission to harm Americans that they got away scot free?

She's a loony, but a loony with some inside dope that she attempted to use in a way that is more telling of her complicity in any Bushco propaganda than in actual events.

It also goes against the "who could've imagined planes flying into buildings" or "there was chatter but nothing specific" or "bin Laden determined to attack in US was an historical document" and the ever-popular "they only have to get it right once but we have to get it right all the time."

[1620rock]

2. LIHOP.

[Warpy]

3. They wouldn't run the story because the NEOCONS

cancelled the investigation into the Cole bombing, even though Clinton's team had tied it directly to OBL. My guess is that the pressure to sit on it came from the Pentagon cabal of Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith and Rumsfeld.

Miller seems to think that if the Cole bombing cell had been caught and prosecuted, OBL wouldn't have done 9/11.

I find that a little weird, but who knows? We know Stupid let the Cole bombers go because he was dreaming about glory in Iraq and didn't want to piss off his Saudi buddies. We know Israel wanted the Iraq war "finished," and that Iran would be next.

What is crystal clear is that neocon policy benefits this country the least among quite a few countries.

[ThomWV]

4. And Her Credibility is What? If You Don't Mind Me Asking

I would not believe one single word out of the woman's mouth.

Back to the salt mine slaves .....